The Norwegian Nobel Committee on Friday awarded the Nobel Peace Prize 2009 to US President Barak Obama for his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples. The Committee has attached special importance to Obama's vision of and work for a world without nuclear weapons. Obama's first reaction: I am humbled.

A Congo military tribunal has found two Norwegians on trial for alleged murder and espionage guilty on all accounts and has sentenced them both to death. They will also have to pay a total of more than US$ 60 milllion in damages.